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The peruvian school system is based on a pattern of six years of primary education followed by five years of secondary. Higher educational levels are covered by teacher training colleges, technical intermediate colleges and universities. Secondary education is characterized by a basic oyole of three years followed by a specialized cycle of two years. In general secondary schools this upper specialized oycle is sub-divided into two streams -one for scientific studies, the other for humanities. In the case of teohnical secondary schools, however, at present there is no clear distinction between the basic oyole and the upper cycle, as teohnical courses nm through starting from the first year of secondary education. Technical secondary schools themselves are divided into four types - industrial, boys and girls, agricultural and commercial. Enrolments at all levels of the formal educational system have increased considerably, for example, primary school enrolments have risen from 1,579,000 in 1965 to 2,475,000 in 1970, secondary from 220,000 to 527,000 and university from 46,032 to 105,612 during a similar period. This expansion of the educational system has been coupled with a lowering of efficiency, in primary schools for example the apparent retention rate has dropped from 59.1 per cent to 38.2 per cent and in general secondary schools from 66.7 per cent to 58.0 per cent during the past two years. Expansion has also favoured general secondary education against technical secondary, the percentage of pupils in technical studies dropping from 19 per cent of the total secondary enrolment in 1963 to 14.5 per oent in 1970.

This Report makes three messages starkly clear. Firstly, the urgent need for new approaches. On current trends only 70% of children in low income countries will complete primary school in 2030, a goal that should have been ...